Tread for boots or shoes



Septo 9, 1924@ 150x844 H. T. MASON TREAD FOR BOOTS OR SHOES Filed sept.v. 1923 2 sheets-Shen 1 Sept. 9 1924.

2` Sheets-S H. T. MASON TREAD FOR BooTs 0R sHoE's heet 2 Filed Sept fg-J.

Patented Sept. 9, 1924.

HERBERT. T. MASON, OF BROOKFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

TBEAD FOR BOOTS 0R SHOES.

Application led September 7, 1923. Serial No. 661,517.

To all whom t may concern."

Be it knownthat I, HERBERT T. MASON, of Brooldield in the county ofWorcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and usefulImprovement -in Treads fOr Boots or Shoes, of which the following isl a'full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, inexplaining its nature.

The present invention relates to an improvement intreads for boots orshoes.

.Amongthe objects of the invention is to provide a wearing tread ofdesirable flexibility and resilience land one that may be easilyappliedtothe boot or shoe during its processing or renewed as occasionmay require. It is my further object to provide the tread with areplaceable wearingl insert of some relatively soft flexible material incomparison with the material constituting thebody Aof thetread. In otherwords', I seek to provide not onl a renewable tread but also a renewab ewearing insert which may be replaced without disturbing the main body ofthe tread.

The invent-ion can best be seen and understood by reference to thedrawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan of an embodiment of theinvention.

Fig. 2 is a. plan of the interior portion thereof. Y

Fig. 3 is aplan of the reverse side of a portion of the tread shown inFig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4--4 of Fig. 5. is a' plan of a furtherembodiment of the invention.

Fig. 6 is a plan of the reverse side of the tread shown in Fig. 5, witha portion thereof exposed to showI interiory construction.

Fig. 7 is a section on the line 7--7 of Fi .6, and V ig. 8 is anenlarged section on the line 8 8 of Fig. 6.

Referring to the drawings In Figures 1 to 4, inclusive, 1 represents thebody of the tread com rising a sole of common type manufacture forattachment to boots or shoes from rubber compound and commonly referredto as a fibre sole. In substance thev sole is fairly'stiif thoughexible.

' Formed within the body 1 of the tread, in a part on which the mostwear comes, is

a cavity 2 which may be formed 'ris formed inset from the surroundinedge of the tread to leave an edge-'Sbygaivhich the tread or sole may beattached'Q-to the boot or shoe in the usual way. 1

The cavity 2 is provided with a-backing 4 preferably of some strongfibrous material having a rubberfacing 5; This`facing is preferably ofvulcanized rubbenor rubber compound frictioned onto the backing 4. Thebackingl is secured to the body 1 of the tread by cement or otherfastening, which will make a fairly permanent fastening of the backingto the tread or such that it cannot be easily removed. I prefer that thebacking be secured 'to the tread not only by cementing but also bystitching 6.

Located rwithin the cavity2 is a filling 7 of soft unvulcanized rubberor other re atively softwearing material in comparison with the materialconstituting the body of the tread. The lling -preferabl proJectsslightly from the cavity beyondt e face of the tread body in order toform a true wearing surface for the tread. The filling 7 is secured tothe rubber-faced backing 5 by cementing it to the rubber face of saidbacking, the cementing being such as to prevent dislodgment of thefilling as the tread is used, but permitting of the filling beingstripped from lthe vbacking for pure poses of replacement as occasionmay require.

In Figs. 5 to 9, inclusive, the invention is` shown applied to a treadcomprising a leather sole of the ordinary type. This sole is providedwith a cavity 9 formed-by cutting out a portion of the sole to leave asurrounding edge 10 by which the sole may be secured to a boot or shoein the usualmam ner. The body 8 of the tread or sole is provided with abacking 11 of any suitable tough material and preferably of vulcanizedrub er compound in sheet form and havin a rubber facing 12 preferably ofvulcanized rubber or rubber compound friotioned onto the backingll. Therubber-faced backing extends over the rear face of the entire sole ortread and over the cavity formed therein,

the same providing a rubber-faced backing for the cavity. This backingis cemented to the tread' or sole and when the tread or sole is securedto the boot or shoe as by stitching the (packing will be securely fixedto the trea Located within the cavity 9 is a lling 135 of softunvulcanized rubber or other rela` tively soft wearing material incomparison With the leather constituting the body of the tread. This issecured to the rubber-faced backing ll by cementing it to the rubberface of said backin the same as in the construction tirst described.

While I have shown the invention applied to the toe portion of a tread,it may be applied to any Wearing part of the tread including its heelortion. In other Words, the heel portion otp a sole or tread of rubbercompound like that rst described may be provided with such a replaceableinsert, or a tread attachable to the leather heel of a boot or shoe mayhave a similar replaceable insert or inserts.

According tothe construction thusprovided there is obtained not only areplaceable insert but also desirable iexibility'and resiliency in atread which'can be best secured by the use of a soft unvulcanized rubber or other soft Wearing material as de-` scribed and which overcomesmany of thev disadvantages arising from making the entire tread out ofsoft unvulcanized rubber as is now commonly done.v

It is evident that they Wearing surface of soft unvulcanized rubber willrequire replacement more often than the body of the tread, which alsomaybe renewed in the usual manner.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States V A tread for boots or shoescomprising a body portion of some stiff flexible material presenting anouter edge surrounding an interior cavity, a backing to said cavity ofsome strong material attached to the body of the tread and having afacing of rubber, meansl for securely fasten-ing said rubber- .facedbacking to said bodyof the tread, a

filling of some relatively soft Wearin material in comparison with themateria constituting said body contained Within said cavity, and meansfor securing said filling to said rubber-faced-backing in a mannerwhereby the filling may be removed therefrom without disrupting saidbackin HERBERT T. MA ON;4

